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Module 2

Assessment of Erosion Hazard

and Erosion Modeling
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Learning Outcomes

1 2
Assessment and Define the Universal
measure soil loss. Soil Loss Equation
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Methods of General Assessment

❑ Soil erosion hazards maps can be an essential

tool in erosion prone areas as they explain and
display the distribution of hazards and areas
likely to be affected to different magnitudes.

❑ Therefore, it is very useful to planners and

policy makers initiating remedial measures and
for prioritizing areas.
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Methods of General Assessment

Water erosion assessment methods can be categorized into three main

approaches:

a) The field plot experiment or fallout radionuclides methods using average

soil loss measurements

b) The field survey method by visible soil erosion indicators and

identification of soil erosion influencing factors

c) Soil erosion modelling

Soil erosion assessment using field experiments was done by many

researchers over several decades. Most of the methods were executed as
field plot scale or watershed base experiments.
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Classification of soil erosion assessment methods

 z Soil Erosion Modeling

1. Physics-Based Models
Physics based models are build on field-based research and
simulate climate, run-off, infiltration, water balance, plant growth
and decomposition, tillage and consolidation. These models are
based on the physics of flow and sediment transport processes and
their interaction on the transfer of mass, momentum and energy. It
was developed as a system modelling approach for predicting and
assessing soil loss and identifying watershed management
practices for soil conservation.
 z Soil Erosion Modeling

2. Empirical Models
Empirical models are simplified natural processes based on
experimental observations. Empirical-based models have been widely
used in soil erosion assessments. The Universal Soil Loss Equation
(USLE), the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) and modified
universal soil loss equation (MUSLE) are commonly employed
empirical-base models Equation for soil erosion assessments.
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 z Soil Erosion Modeling

3. Conceptual Models
Conceptual models are a combination of empirical and
physical-based models. General descriptions of catchment processes
can incorporate to conceptual models without stipulating process
interactions since detail catchment information would require for
process interactions. Therefore, conceptual models provide
measurements on quantitative and qualitative processes within an
area such as a watershed and consist with inherent limitations of
empirical models such as a wide range of data set are needed for
calibration.
 z Land Capability Classification
Land capability classification is a scientific appraisal of the physical
characteristics of the land. “It is an inherent capacity of land to perform
the general land-use function.” It is the quality of land and assessed by
the physical properties of soil and terrain characteristics. Land capability
is by and large ascertained by inherent soil characteristics, external land
features and environmental factors limiting land use (Mohammad Noor,
1981).

The Land Capability Classification (LCC) System is a global land

evaluation ranking that groups soils based on their potential for
agricultural and other uses. LCC can help determine if land is suitable for
certain uses and whether there are risks for degradation.
The land capability classification is grouped into three major
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categories of soil.

1. Capability Class - It is a group of a capability subclasses that have

the same relative degree of limitation or hazard. Classes are
indicated by Roman Numerals and the restriction on kinds of land
use and management increase from Class I and Class VIII.
Land which is allocated to any particular capability class has the
potential for the use specified for that class and for all classes below it.
So, Class I whilst excellent for arable land use can equally be put to
any other uses. Class VI and is suited for improved pasture but also to
any of the uses below it, however, Class VIII land can be used only for
recreation, etc. the capability class does not necessarily indicate what
is the best use for land, nor the most profitable profit.
Capability Class
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Arable Land (Class I – Class IV, land

suited for agriculture)
Class I
➢ Slope 0-1%
➢ Soils have slight limitations that restrict
their use.
➢ Deep, productive soils easily worked, on
nearly level land; not subjects to
overland flow; no slight risk of damage
when cultivated; use of fertilizer and
lime, cover grass, crop rotations
required to maintain soil fertility and
soil structure.
Capability Class
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Class II
➢ Slope 1-3%
➢ Soils have moderate limitations that
reduce the choice of plants or require
moderate conservation practices.
➢ Contour plowing and other easy to use
practices are often used
➢ Have moderate soil depth, light or
heavy texture, gentle slope and
moderate soil fertility etc.
➢ Suitable for permanent cultivation with
some soil and water conservation
practices.
Capability Class
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Class III
➢ Slope 3-5%
➢ Soils have severe limitations that
reduce the choice of plants or require
special conservation practices, or
both.
▪ Terraces and strip cropping
▪ Contour bunding, graded bunding
➢ Crops must be carefully selected -
Plant cover should be maintained
➢ It can be productive with proper
management by the producer
Capability Class
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Class IV
➢ Slope 5-8%
➢ Soils have very severe limitations that
restrict the choice of plants or require
very careful management, or both.
➢ Hilly lands and lowest preference for
cultivated
➢ Frequently subject to erosion (gullies)
➢ Suitable only for occasional or limited
cultivation
➢ Engineering measures are
recommended here
Capability Class
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Non-Arable Land (Class V -Class VIII,

not suitable for cultivation)
Class V
➢ Slope 8-12%
➢ Soils have little or no hazard of erosion
but have other limitations, impractical
to remove, that limit their use mainly to
pasture, range, forestland, or wildlife
food and cover.
➢ The soil is typically having good tilth
and fertility.
➢ Have the potential to become Class I,
but due to particular problem/hazard,
they can’t fulfill the characteristics of
class I
Capability Class
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Class VI
➢ Slope 12-18%
➢ Shallow soils on steep slope
➢ Used for grazing and forestry
➢ Grazing should be regulated to
preserve plant cover
➢ If the plant cover is destroyed, use
should be restricted until cover is re-
established.
➢ Suitable for horticultural crops like
mango, guava, cashew nut etc.
➢ Gullies often quickly from if not
carefully managed.
Capability Class
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Class VII
➢ Slope 18-25%
➢ Highly unsuited for cultivation
➢ Best uses are permanent pasture,
forestry, and wildlife.
➢ Generally, land are droughty and
swampy having very steep slope,
rough stony or very severely
eroded, infested with gullies.
Capability Class
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Class VIII
➢ Slope greater than 25%
➢ Very rough land; not suitable even for woodland or
grazing; reserve for wildlife, recreation or watershed
conservation.
➢ Often used for waterfowl habitat
The land capability classification is grouped into three major
categories
z of soil.

2. Capability Subclass - is a grouping of capability units having

similar kinds of limitation and hazards. Four general kinds of
limitations or hazards are recognized: e – erosion; w – excess water;
s – soil root zone limitations (depth, stoniness, etc.) and c – climate.
• Subclass e is made up of soils for which the susceptibility to
erosion is the dominant problem or hazard affecting their use.
Erosion susceptibility and past erosion damage are the major soil
factors that affect soils in this subclass.
▪ Subclass w is made up of soils for which excess water is the
dominant hazard or limitation affecting their use. Poor soil drainage,
wetness, a high-water table, and overflow are the factors that affect
soils in this subclass.
The land capability classification is grouped into three major
categories
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▪ Subclass s is made up of soils that have soil limitations within the

rooting zone, such as shallowness of the rooting zone, stones, low
moisture-holding capacity, low fertility that is difficult to correct, and
salinity or sodium content.
▪ Subclass c is made up of soils for which the climate (the
temperature or lack of moisture) is the major hazard or limitation
affecting their use.
3. Capability Unit - This is a group of soil mapping units that have the
same potential, limitation and management responses. Units are shown
by Arabic numbers, e.g. IIe – 1, IIIw – 3 etc.
Estimation of Soil erosion: (USLE) Universal Soil Loss Equation
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➢ Developed to estimate the rate of soil erosion under various conditions

➢ It can be a guide for selecting the most appropriate system and
management practices that limit soil loss through erosion
➢ A = 0.224 R * K * L* S * C * P
where:
A = predicted rate of soil loss in tons/ha/year
R = rainfall erosivity index
K = soil erodibility factor
L = slope length factor
S = slope gradient factor
C = cropping system and management factor
P = erosion control practice factor
Estimation of Soil erosion: (USLE) Universal Soil Loss Equation
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R factor
➢ reflects climate (rainfall intensity and erosivity) as a factor of soil erosion

➢ found in long term records of rainfall specific to each country or state

➢ determined by the total kinetic energy and the maximum 30-minute intensity of
rain for a given time interval of a given rainstorm

K factor
➢ reflects the fact that different soils erode at different rates

➢ the measure of rate of erosion per unit quantity of erosion for specific soils
determined using the standard erosion plot
➢ can be estimated using data of texture, organic matter, structure and
permeability
Estimation of Soil erosion: (USLE) Universal Soil Loss Equation
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L factor
➢ result of correlation studies of slope length and erosion using standard plots
S factor
➢ shows the correlation of erosion to percent slope and slope gradient
C factor
➢ The C factor is the crop management factor and is the ratio of soil loss compared
to fallow (bare, exposed) soil.
P factor
➢ The P factor is the erosion control factor expressed as a ratio of the soil loss with
practices
➢ If a farmer plows up and down the slope of a hill, P=1. When plowing is done
following the contours of the hill, P is reduced.
Tolerable soil loss (T)
➢ T is the maximum level of soil erosion that will permit a high level of crop
productivity to be maintained economically and indefinitely.
Intrinsic Limitations of the USLE Model
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1. The model applies only to sheet erosion since the source of

energy is rain; so, it never applies to linear or mass erosion.
2. The type of countryside: the model has been tested and verified in
peneplain and hilly country with 1-20% slopes, and excludes young
mountains, especially slopes steeper than 40%, where runoff is a
greater source of energy than rain and where there are significant
mass movements of earth.
3. The type of rainfall: the relations between kinetic energy and
rainfall intensity generally used in this model apply only to the
American Great Plains, and not to mountainous regions although
different sub-models can be developed for the index of rainfall
erosivity, R.
Intrinsic Limitations of the USLE Model
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4. The model applies only for average data over 20 years and is
not valid for individual storms. A MUSLE model has been
developed for estimating the sediment load produced by each storm,
which considers not rainfall erosivity but the volume of runoff
(Williams 1975).
5. Lastly, a major limitation of the model is that it neglects certain
interactions between factors in order to distinguish more easily the
individual effect of each. For example, it does not consider the effect
on erosion of slope combined with plant cover, nor the effect of soil
type on the effect of slope.
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